This is the easiest way to make a gluten-free Pizza Crust in your cast iron skillet! It has a fluffy texture and it's hearty enough to support all of your favorite pizza toppings. It's even vegan, yeast-free, and paleo as well! Pizza for all!
I think pizza is one of the first foods people ask about when I say I'm a gluten-free vegan. I understand the question, too! Pizza is life. It's classic weekend food, the ultimate comfort dish, and seems to be on everyone's list of very favorite meals.
Here's the truth: I don't sacrifice pizza! I still love making delicious, cheesy, comforting pizza with all of my favorite toppings...I just do it with a couple adjustments. Here's the gluten-free pizza crust recipe that works as a base anytime I'm craving a Friday night pizza and movie!
Gluten-Free Pizza Crust Ingredients
First things first: let's gather ingredients! There are a few things in this crust that might be considered "specialty," but I still think you'll be able to find them at your local grocery store.
- Almond flour - Look for blanched, super fine almond flour for the best texture. You can also make your own at home in the food processor or blender if you have extra blanched almonds in the pantry!
- Arrowroot starch - This works as a thickener and gives your pizza crust a good weight. You can use tapioca flour if you can't find arrowroot starch!
- Potato starch - This is different from potato flour! Potato flour is made from peeled, cooked, dried, and ground potatoes, while potato starch is just the starch that's been rinsed out of potatoes and dried. Starch is bright white and fluffy!
- Unsweetened, plain plant-based milk - I use almond milk most often (and even usually make my own!).
- Pantry ingredients - Baking powder, salt, garlic powder, pure maple syrup, and extra virgin olive oil.
Homemade Cast Iron Skillet Pizza
My favorite way to make restaurant-quality pizza at home is in a cast iron skillet! It most closely resembles wood-fired pizza and I love how evenly it cooks and browns your crust. I get the pizza crust started on the stovetop, then put all my toppings on and finish it in the oven.
Vegan Pizza Toppings
What goes on top of a vegan pizza? All the good stuff! I love roasting veggies to top my pizza, and you can do a classic tomato, pesto, or white sauce. Sometimes we even do pizza for dessert with sweet toppings!
- Vegan Mozzarella Cheese
- Caramelized Onions (my fave pizza topping!)
- Roasted Garlic
- Vegan Parsley Arugula Walnut Pesto
- Herb Roasted Root Vegetables
- Maple Roasted Butternut Squash
- Sautéed Mushrooms
- Homemade Nutella with strawberries (pizza for dessert!)
More Italian Recipes
Easy Cast Iron Skillet Pizza (yeast-free, vegan, gluten-free, paleo)
- Total Time: 25 minutes
- Yield: 8 pizza slices
- Diet: Vegan
Description
This is the easiest way to make a gluten-free Pizza Crust in your cast iron skillet! It has a fluffy texture and it's hearty enough to support all of your favorite pizza toppings. It's even vegan, yeast-free, and paleo as well! Pizza for all!
Ingredients
- ½ cup blanched super fine almond flour
- ½ cup arrowroot starch or tapioca flour
- ½ cup potato starch (not potato flour)
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ¾ teaspoon fine salt
- ½ cup unsweetened, plain almond milk (or any plant-based milk) or water
- 1 teaspoon maple syrup
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil for cooking (divided)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit and grease a 12-inch cast iron skillet with olive oil.
- Add the almond flour, arrowroot starch, potato starch, baking powder, and salt to a medium sized mixing bowl and whisk until well combined.
- Add almond milk (or water) and maple syrup and whisk again until incorporated and no clumps remain.
- Grease the cast iron skillet with 1 tablespoon of oil. Pour the pizza dough batter into the skillet. Bake for 10 minutes.
- Remove from the stovetop and assemble the pizza. I love to simply add pizza sauce and Vegan Mozzarella Cheese. See blog post above for more fun pizza topping ideas. Caramelized Onions and Roasted Garlic are other favorite toppings of mine.
- Drizzle 1 tablespoon oil overtop the entire pizza. Bake the pizza crust with fixings in the cast iron skillet for 10 minutes, or until the crust is golden brown and cooked through. If using cheese it should be melted and slightly golden brown on top as well. Drizzle olive oil overtop the homemade mozzarella cheese for best results.
- Optional: Broil the pizza for 2 minutes before removing from oven.
- Optional post-oven pizza topping ideas: Top with dollops of pesto, drizzle of olive oil, fresh basil, vegan parm, and/or red pepper flakes. Slice and serve! Enjoy immediately.
Notes
If you use half the batter in the 8-inch pan it will be medium thickness (not thin crust or deep dish). The more batter you use and the small skillets will provide a more deep dish like quality. Adjust cooking times accordingly.
- Prep Time: 10
- Cook Time: 15
- Category: Entree
Cathy says
We made this for dinner tonight and loved our pizzas! I was a little surprised how stiff the dough was, but once I pressed it out into the pan, it cooked up fine and tasted great!
Elaine Gordon says
So happy you loved it! Thank you so much, Cathy!
Jen says
So good! I made a regular (non GF homemade dough) crust just in case but these were better and, they don’t have a sandy GF taste like some other recipes I’ve tried.
Elaine Gordon says
Thank you so much, Jen! I really appreciate that! Best, Elaine
Kristie says
Made this dough along with the vegan mozzarella cheese recipe and am soooo thankful to be able to have a yummy pizza night with my family! Thank you!
Elaine Gordon says
Thank you for letting me know, Kristie! I'm so happy to hear you could enjoy pizza night with you fam. That is exactly why I developed this recipe 🙂 I was always left out of pizza night until this recipe! Thank you for leaving a five star rating. I hope you enjoy it for many pizza nights to come! Best, Elaine
J&J says
This was hands down p, by far the best (and ironically the easiest)pizza crust I have tried since going gluten free! Thank you so much for your recipe. We have always made homemade pizza at home and we miss it a lot so we set out to find the perfect GF crust. Most recipes I have tried are with yeast and then they don’t rise and are soggy when you put actual toppings on it. This crust is crisp and crunchy but has that soft chewy layer over the crispy. If you are trying to decide should I try this- do it! You won’t regret! I wish I could give it more than 5 stars!
Elaine Gordon says
Wow thank you so much for this thoughtful and positive review of the pizza crust. I'm so happy it was a success for you and that you enjoyed it so much and found it so easy too. All the best, Elaine